Robot 6

Batman’s Tumbler forced to drop out of Gumball 3000 motor rally

If everything had gone as planned, sometime Wednesday a street-legal replica of Batman’s Tumblr from Christopher Nolan’s movie trilogy would be crossing the finish line in Ibiza in a triumphant conclusion to the Gumball 3000.

Unfortunately, those plans went awry before the annual 3,000-mile motor rally even got under way last week in Miami Beach, Florida.

Wired reports the 5,000-pound Tumbler, with its 6.2-liter V8 engine that produces 400 horsepower, was forced to drop out of the race because of mechanical problems. Saudi Arabia’s Team Galag, which was supposed to drive the car, points the finger squarely at its builder, saying in a Facebook post that, “Parker Brothers Concepts have been given a year to fix the issues that were faced last year but chose not to do any work until it was too late to make any difference. We have been misled many times and were told that progress was being made and chose to put our trust in their word …They are also refusing to hand over the license plates in order to be able to drive the Tumbler legally on the road.”